About MintBox
A sustainable response to the pandemic.
MintBox started with a group of eighth graders behind Zoom screens, building window-sill gardens while supply chains were falling apart. It has been rebuilt by a new group of students almost every year since.
2020 – 2021
The seed
Starting as a school project
MintBox started with a group of eighth graders behind Zoom screens. Supply chains had broken down, fresh produce was harder to get than it should have been, and we wanted to grow something on a window sill.
We won an Avenues Seedbank grant, designed the first MintBox in CAD, and hand-produced a run of 25. Every one of them found a home almost immediately.
2021 – 2022
The sprout
Getting boxes into hands
We manufactured 100 more boxes and rebuilt the pot in ceramic after families told us the laser-cut version felt fragile. We spent a summer running a stall at the Union Square Greenmarket, which is where we learned most of what we know about explaining the box to a stranger in thirty seconds.
Our online following passed 2,000, and the question that kept coming up — can you get these to people who cannot pay for them? — set the direction for everything since.
2022 – 2023
The growth
A community-centered future
A stall reaches the people who walk past it. We wanted the work to go further than that.
We built a plant science and nutrition curriculum with Avenues elementary teachers, partnered with Hudson Guild and Covenant House, and committed fully to donation — designing boxes alongside the communities that use them and giving them away. The Auto-Watering Planter came directly out of that shift: it exists because seniors at Fulton told us what was actually stopping them from gardening.
2024 – present
The harvest
Two thousand boxes and counting
The design settled: one ceramic pot, one plant, mint first, everything a first-time grower needs in the box. Then we concentrated on getting it to people — and on a method.
The method is always the same: find an organization already serving the population, learn what space and needs its members actually have, build boxes to match, deliver them free, teach planting in person, and leave the family able to keep the plant going. That took kits to families at the New Sanctuary Coalition's weekly legal clinics, planting workshops at St. Clement's Food Kitchen, a joint community event at Saint Peter's Lutheran Church, two hundred boxes to school families through homeroom delivery, and a first session with VISIONS at Selis Manor, whose blind and low-vision members are reshaping how we design every guide that ships. The planting guide now goes out in English and Spanish, five illustrated steps with a QR code.
Somewhere in spring 2026 the total passed two thousand boxes donated. It took three years to give away the first two hundred.
Timeline
What happened, when
septiembre de 2020
MintBox founded
Eighth graders at Avenues start MintBox during remote learning.
marzo de 2021
Avenues Seedbank Grant
The grant that paid for the first run of kits.
mayo de 2021
First classroom session
A first grade class at Avenues tests the kit as a teaching tool.
junio de 2021
First 25 kits produced
Laser-cut by hand; sold out in person and online.
julio de 2021
First Union Square stall
75 ceramic 2.0 kits sold over the summer.
noviembre de 2021
Baby Sprout EDU launches
Two 5th grade science classes at Avenues Lower School.
junio de 2023
First planter delivered
Installed at the Hudson Guild Fulton Senior Center.
agosto de 2023
First shelter delivery
50 EDU kits across four Covenant House shelters.
agosto de 2023
Lawrenceville Welles Award
Recognition for the Hudson Guild planter partnership.
septiembre de 2025
New Sanctuary Coalition
Kits begin reaching families at the weekly pro bono immigration legal clinics.
noviembre de 2025
St. Clement's Food Kitchen
Distribution paired with hands-on planting workshops begins.
febrero de 2026
Saint Peter's Lutheran Church
The partnership opens with a joint community event alongside KidsKnowRights and the Language Service Club.
marzo de 2026
Elliott-Chelsea Community Giveaway
Free MintBoxes, toys and clothing at a joint community day with Avenues.
marzo de 2026
Bilingual planting guide
Every box now ships with a five-step illustrated guide in English and Spanish, QR-linked.
mayo de 2026
200 kits to school families
Homeroom delivery through a parent request form; demand outran supply.
mayo de 2026
Hudson Guild courtyard distribution
Boxes opened together at the courtyard tables — the partnership's second chapter.
junio de 2026
2,000 boxes donated
The total passed two thousand, most of them in the last two years.
agosto de 2026
First VISIONS session
A joint session at Selis Manor for blind and visually impaired New Yorkers.
The record stops in August 2023. Entries for 2024 onward are still being written.
Succession
Who has run MintBox
Leadership turns over as students graduate. Keeping the record visible is part of how the organization stays durable.
Founding team, 2020
- Ethan Seiz — Co-founder and former President
- Zenchang Sun — Co-founder, former CFO and Head of Engineering
- William Wang — Co-founder and former Head of Content
- Haider Irshad — Co-founder and former Program Director
Current team
- Ian Massaro — Copresidente
- Shane Davidoff — Presidente
- Nicolas Gutierrez — Director Adjunto de Idiomas y Vinculación Comunitaria
- John Stavropoulos — Director de Difusión y Alianzas Juveniles
Recognition
Grants and awards
Avenues Seedbank Grant
Funded the first production run of Baby Sprout kits.
Lawrenceville Welles Award
For the Hudson Guild planter partnership.
Avenues Mastery Learning System
Recognition through the school's mastery program.
Actualizado